an Eventful weekend

On Saturday, his final day of Prednisone, Kyren took his first steps -- two of them-- smiling all the way!
By Sunday he was up to 12 or 13!
He also turned 17 months that day. Such a fun milestone-- truly a "toddler" now... though he still prefers crawling or crawlking.
Our power went out in the big windstorm of Saturday. For 24 hours!
Had it been thursday or friday, when it was 65-70 degrees, it wouldn't have mattered, but the temp dropped back down into the 30's (oh yeah, it IS february) and off we went to Gramsy/Poppy's for the night, crossing our fingers and holding our breath, so as not to return home with Gramsy's Pneumonia. ...which we think she probably caught from the boys last week.
We watched Inception with Dad and subtitles, which was a much different experience than it was seeing it the first time in the theater. We then had a pretty terrible night's sleep, all in one room, with K up every couple hours, disoriented, and Christian randomly coughing throughout the night. Although we're sure it was a much more comfortable night than we would have had at home, freezing our tookusses off.
Sunday evening was Bethany's bridal shower-- cannot believe she's a grown up! Definitely one of those 'woah' moments in my life.
Today we had a lazy morning (still have not cleaned up those beans all over the kitchen floor, and now strewn about the rest of the house). Then we spontaneously decided to go to Hank's Place and Longwood for a little family time.
Hank's is simply the best breakfast place around, and Christian saw someone order french toast with whipped cream and strawberries upon walking through the door. . . so his heart was set on that. Both boys actually did a GREAT job waiting patiently, even though they were hungry. And they both gobbled their food (Kyren shared my omlet, toast and homefries...actually he ate so much I was still hungry afterward!). Christian ate his whipped cream first, devoured most of his french toast, and then proceeded to lick the strawberry syrup off his plate. So endearing.
We had one of those rare 'proud parent' moments when an older lady stopped on her way out and complemented us on our boys' good behavior. i half expected one of them to throw a tantrum when she turned and walked away, but we just sat there, smiling, knowing it was only a matter of outings before that will surely happen.
Longwood was fun, though somewhat disappointing, when we walked into the conservatory expecting an escape from the frigid weather, only to find it barely warmer than the outdoors. apparently they were doing some construction and had the windows open (or something). the boys started shivering while playing in the fountains. fortunately we have our season pass and didn't feel compelled to stay more than a half hour or so.
Upon returning home, we all fell asleep for a couple of hours, and woke refreshed.
SUCH a nice way to spend Presidents' Day.
hope to post pics soon----

i'm an organizational wannabe

i have always loved being orgnaized.

but i'm really not great at it.

i look at a picture like the one above, of all the nice, matching containers that stack and fit perfectly in your cabinets, and i think, "Wow, if only i had all of those, i'd be able to stay organized." (good marketing, right?)

the problem is, even though i bought 4 of them (for my flours and sugars), and reorganized my baking cabinet, it doesn't look as cool as the picture. i also don't have enough cool-looking foods to go in them. or space. or need! i mean, cereal boxes were made to hold cereal, right? it seems like a waste of time to transfer the cereal to a container when we eat it well within the expiration date,

just so i can look organized.

the other problem with trying to get organized in one area, is it just makes me look around at all the other disorganized areas and sigh. it's hard enough to keep up with the daily clean-up of 2 little boys. you know, the whole "as soon as i clean up it's time for another meal" or "we just put all the toys away, and now they're pulling out the tupperware and spreading it around the house... but i have to let them if i want any time to prepare the next meal."

but i feel like if i get one set of outgrown clothes put away, i'm just going to have to turn around and get the next size out to go through. if i organize the tupperware, well, what's the point?

it's unending--

and maybe that IS the point.

motherhood, in the midst of it, is just one big disorganized blur where you do the best you can with the space you have, and let organization be what it is for you.

and for me, it is sporadic and always seemingly just out of reach.

and for now... that's OKAY.

What must he be thinking?

my favorite parts of this video are the beginning, when he's trying to shake the peas off of his hands, and the end, where the peas are stuck to the bottom of his foot, and he doesn't seem to know. 

Kiddos at play

playing nicely.

done playing nicely.

teamwork. 

laughing at big brother.

Busy Boys

Silly Hat Time

a rare moment of sharing his hardhat.
k looks honored, doesn't he?

his very own idea.
it's an insert from my new flour container.

and this is why we call him Kute Bear.

this photo credit: Christian A. Brown

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Kyren the Klimber

*yes, every one of these photos was snapped by this child's mother during a dangerous moment.
but, c'mon, you gotta take risks in life to capture the cuteness before it's gone.

*no koo-bears were injured during this (particular) photoshoot.